Japanese Counting Numbers

Learn Counting in Japanese

Welcome to the Japanese lesson on Counting Numbers. This page is all about Japanese numbers. In the English language, numbers are used in the same way when counting different types of things. But in the Japanese language, numbers are used in many ways. Why?

Because Japanese uses different counters for different types of things ranging from simple objects, people, flat things, long slender things to books. See below on how Japanese number counting varies.

1 ichi

21 nijuuichi

100

hyaku

2 ni

22 nijuuni

150

hyakugojuu

3 san

23 nijuusan

200

nihyaku

4 yon/shi

30 sanjuu

300

sanbyaku

5 go

31 sanjuuichi

1000

sen

6 roku

32 sanjuuni

1500

sengohyaku

7 nana/shichi

40 yonjuu

2000

nisen

8 hachi

41 yonjuuichi

10000

ichiman

9 kyuu/ku

42 yonjuuni

100000

juuman

10 juu

50 gojuu

1000000

hyakuman

11 juuichi

51 gojuuichi

10000000

senman

12 juuni

52 gojuuni

100,000,000

ichioku

13 juusan

60 rokujuu

14 juushi

61 rokujuuichi

15 juugo

70 nanajuu

16 juuroku

71 nanajuuichi

17 juushichi

80 hachijuu

18 juuhachi

81 hachijuuichi

19 juuku

90 kyuujuu

20 nijuu

91 kyuujuuichi

With “hyaku” (100) and “sen” (1000), the pattern is basically the same. However, there are some changes in pronunciation. Numbers with pronunciation changes are underlined.

100

hyaku

1000

sen

200

nihyaku

2000

nisen

300

sanbyaku

3000

sanzen

400

yonhyaku

4000

yonsen

500

gohyaku

5000

gosen

600

roppyaku

6000

rokusen

700

nanahyaku

7000

nanasen

800

happyaku

8000

hassen

900

kyuuhyaku

9000

kyuusen

The Japanese uses 10,000 as a counting unit. Each unit of 10,000 is called “man”. This continues until 100,000,000 (ichioku).

100000

ichiman

100000

juuman

100000

hyakuman

10000000

senman

100000000

ichioku

“Man” and “oku” follow a regular rule except for 10,000 and 100,000,000. They are always “ichiman” and “ichioku,” not just “man” and “oku.”

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In most cases, the Japanese use the Arabic (Western) numbers when they write horizontally.

Counting People in Japanese

Here, we use the suffix “nin” but this changes depending on the number of people. 1 person and 2 people are exceptions. Again, just learn by counting over and over out loud.
1 – person hitori
2 – people futari
3 – people sannin
4 – people yonin
5 – people gonin
6 – people rokunin
7 – people shichinin
8 – people hachinin
9 – people kunin
10 – people junin
How many people – nannin